2^ West Americc^n S.initisi. 



Growing near the habitat of the preceding species. Leaves 

 thin and light green, variable in shape, very sparingly setulose- 

 pubescent, the inflorescence minutely glandular under a strong 

 lens. The following species hitherto undescribed is from some- 

 where in Mendocino County, but was brought in many years ago. 



MiTELLA ovALis. Leavcs all radical. 2 inches long, oval or 

 oblong, obtuse, cordate at base, with closed sinus, the margin 

 with shallow rounded lobes and mucronulate teeth, upper sur- 

 face with* scattered, appressed. rather coarse whitish hairs; 

 petioles ferruginous-hirsute, the hairs deflexed ; scape glabrous 

 or nearly so, a foot high; pedicels very short; calyx-lobes very 

 short and broad, green; petals green, pinnately parted at apex 

 into 3-5 linear lobes ; stamens 5. 



Collected by H. N. Bolander and ticketed in the herbarium of 

 the California Academy, M. trifida ; but that species has the 

 petals of the preceding species, namely, white and palmately 

 trifid. In H ovalis the foliage is of lirmer texture, more like that 

 of a Heuchera than those of any other Mitella. 



There is another plant in Mr. Marshall's collection, more 

 interesting to me than even his new species and that he found, I 

 believe, on the very shores of Humboldt Bay. It is that 

 described in the Botany of California under the name Eritrichium 

 plebeium, a species not before heard of except on the shores of 

 the Aleutian Islands. We wonder gready if this is really 

 indigenous to California. Possibly it is but a recent acquisition 

 accidently introduced from its distant and sub-arctic home. Can 

 Mr. Marshall give us any light upon this problem? 



Prof. E L. Greene. 



EMINENT NATURALISTS.— IV. 



ISAAC LEA, LL. D. 



Few men are now living who were born before the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century. As the years go by, such men are 

 rapidly passing away, and their number is becoming less and less. 

 Whenever we meet such a man we instinctively regard him with 

 reverence, even if we are ignorant of his history. But when we 

 learn that his long life has been filled with worthy deeds, and 

 that for scores of years he has been regarded as one of the most 

 learned and eniment men of the country, our respect and venera- 

 tion are greatly increased. 



Of all the scientific men of this country, very few, if any, have 

 lived so many years or received so much honor as Isaac Lea. It 

 seems almost like romance to read that his parents came over 

 from England with William Penn, on his second visit, but such 

 was the fact. Naturally they belonged to the "Society of Friends", 



